


Fade to Black

by Jen425



Series: This Kills The Woz [2]
Category: Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Kamen Rider Zi-O, Tokusatsu
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:56:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29753703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425
Summary: In which it is White Woz who fades away
Series: This Kills The Woz [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129505
Comments: 8
Kudos: 9
Collections: Killing a character once a month of 2021





	Fade to Black

**Author's Note:**

> Man this series is fun. Prompt for this one is “Near Death Experience”, a time in Canon where the character could have died, but they didn’t…

The second time Tokiwa Sougo gives up his powers, it’s permanent. He funnels it with a single thought to save Geiz and Tsuku and the future and all of it. It isn’t grief-stricken. It doesn’t summon Ohma Zi-O.

The watch on his broken Driver going grey.

It just… fades him away.

Ohma, that is. Woz supposes he’ll be next. He’s failed to erase the Heisei Riders, and his alternate self’s very existence…

He looks down at his book. Empty now. Ohma no longer a worry, he’s… he’s glad.

He’s glad.

“Why are you so calm?” he hears his own voice say, and he turns.

“My alternate,” he says. He struggles to call him “White Woz”,  _ Shiro _ Woz… this version never knew the loss of his family, the desperation. The things which have defined Woz despite the image he’s maintained. “I suppose you wouldn’t know the truth, now would you?”

“And what would that be?” The other asks.

Woz laughs. This other is so different and yet just close enough that somehow he can believe it could be him, in another life.

“Do you believe yourself so capable of evil?” He asks. “But… no, I suppose it is possible for anyone. If Tokiwa Sougo could become a monster… as could we.”

We. Woz. White Woz, this version from another World where he had not suffered and loved and lost and fought and sacrificed.

Sacrificed so many.

But it’s enough. Not how he intended, of course, and maybe the Quartzers will be forced to step in in new ways, perhaps have Geiz finish the job.

It’s enough, and Woz was prepared to die, but he had never expected it to go like this. He wants to laugh and cry and apologize to Geiz and Tsukuyomi and tell them everything and nothing. He wants to tell Sougo that if he did this, maybe he could become a good king, just not as a Rider.

Not as a Heisei Rider.

“I would say that to serve a demon king is far more horrible than to serve one such as my savior,” White Woz says.

Woz smiles.

“Perhaps,” he says. “However, you are far crueler than I, and I could not guess your intent. What comes next for you?”

“Why, stopping the Time Jackers, of course,” Woz says. “And then return to my own time.”

“Things may still change,” Woz points out. “The timeline has already begun to be irreparably altered. Eventually, it will all shatter.”

“And why do you care?” White Woz asks. “You won’t be here to see it.”

Woz smirks.

“You still know nothing,” he says.

He teleports away, before the other can say more.

  
  
  


“Congratulations, Geiz-kun,” Woz says, and Geiz whips around, Driver and Ridewatches already in hand.

“What do you want, Woz?” He asks. Woz smiles.

“I truly wish to congratulate you,” he says. “The world is saved from Oma Zi-O. It is what you wished for. And my demon king lives. I will stay beside you both, as well as Tsukuyomi of course, until I fade.”

Geiz pauses.

“…Fade?”

“Ohma Zi-O no longer exists,” Woz replies. “And my Demon King released his powers for your sakes, not mine. I will fade content.”

Geiz drops his Driver to his side.

“Why?” He asks. “Why did you betray us if you seem so… happy, that you lost?”

“Oh, Geiz,” Woz says. “I never wanted the rise of Ohma Zi-O. That was merely a means to an end. And you’ve succeeded.”

“What the hell does that even—”

Woz leaves before Geiz can even finish the question.

  
  
  


“…Woz?”

Tsukuyomi is right in her confusion. Neither of them are exceptionally affectionate people by nature. Nonetheless, she is dear to him, and in this moment he feels justified. A single hug for his sister before he ceases to exist.

“Ohma Zi-O killed them,” he says. “Our team.”  _ Our family. _ “I have known since childhood, and I apologize for keeping this secret.”

“What are you talking about?” Tsukuyomi asks.

“I saw the footage, they almost succeeded,” Woz says. “But when they caught Zala, he found them all. He destroyed them.”

Tsukuyomi looks at him.

“If you knew that, then why—”

“This ending was always my intent, Tsukuyomi,” Woz says. “I wish you luck with your future.”

  
  
  


He fights, but he stays distant. It is best for everyone.

  
  
  


He doesn’t say goodbye to Sougo. He doesn’t know what to say. Just that he believes Sougo could truly become a kind leader, if he tried.

But he can’t say those words.

  
  
  


In the end, it’s back to his double. He holds out the BeyonDriver.

“To preserve time and space,” he says. “I am giving this to you.”

While Woz looks him up and down.

“I cannot understand you, and it perplexes me,” he says. “After all, we are the same.”

“No, we’re not,” Woz says. He walks past White Woz and looks at the sunset. “Or you would not be so glib with your title,  _ Shiro Wozu. _ ”

“I don’t…”

“It was a man named Shiro who raised me,” Woz says. “He is dead in many ways now. Perhaps already conceived. I hope he is proud of my success, even in such an odd fashion.”

And then… he fades away.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr @flaim-ita or @dancingqueen-mai for just Toku edits


End file.
